Secure remotely configurable point of sale terminal

ABSTRACT

The embodiment(s) relate to a method of remotely configuring a Point-of-Sale (PoS) terminal. The method includes generating, at a merchant device, payment information based on a transaction input, signing the generated payment information with a private key, and transmitting the signed payment information and a public key certificate signed by a certificate authority to the PoS terminal for validation of the payment information at the PoS terminal using the public key certificate. The PoS terminal configures a terminal profile of the PoS terminal according to instructions received in the payment information from the merchant device when the payment information is validated at the PoS terminal.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is based on and claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent App. No. 61/804,773, filed on Mar. 25, 2013 with the U.S. Patent Office, the contents of which priority application are hereby incorporated by reference in their entity.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a Point-of-Sale (PoS) terminal with a data communication feature and a method thereof for configuring a secure, remotely and temporarily modified merchant profile of the PoS terminal.

2. Description of the Related Art

Online shops and merchants often accept credit and debit cards for a method of payment. The problem with the online card payments is that the user must enter the card information manually to the fields on the online shop site.

The online card payment as described above is so called ‘card not present’ transaction, where the merchant can't verify the existence of the physical card at the moment of the transaction. Card not present transactions can be faked easily and the risk for the merchant is high and consequently the related transaction fee is high.

There is no guarantee that the user is entering his/her own card information, i.e. the card information can be stolen or otherwise fraudulent and can lead to financial losses of the merchant and/or of the consumer. The information sent to the website could be misused for fraudulent transactions by anyone who have access to that information or by a ‘middle-man’ who can detect the information from the communication between the user and the web site. There are several ways this can be achieved.

Typical Point of Sale (PoS) terminals are configured to accept card payments into the merchant's own bank account. These PoS terminals are not suitable for online purchases where the consumer can buy from any online shop because of the payment would be directed to the bank account of the owner of the PoS terminal.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one or more embodiments, a method of remotely configuring a Point-of-Sale (PoS) terminal is provided. The method includes generating, at a merchant device, payment information based on a transaction input. The method also includes signing the generated payment information with a private key, and transmitting the signed payment information and a first public key certificate signed by a certificate authority to the PoS terminal for validation of the payment information at the PoS terminal using the first public key certificate. The PoS terminal configures a terminal profile of the PoS terminal according to instructions received in the payment information from the merchant device when the payment information is validated at the PoS terminal.

In one or more embodiments, a method of remotely configuring a Point-of-Sale (PoS) terminal is provided. The method includes receiving, at the PoS terminal, signed payment information signed with a private key and a public key certificate signed by a certificate authority. The method also includes validating, at the PoS terminal, the payment information using the public key certificate. The method further includes configuring, at the PoS terminal, a terminal profile of the PoS terminal according to instructions received in the payment information from a merchant device when the payment information is validated at the PoS terminal.

In one or more embodiments, a method of remotely configuring a Point-of-Sale (PoS) terminal is provided. The method includes receiving, at the merchant device, a transaction input. The method also includes generating, at the merchant device, payment information based on the transaction input, and signing the generated payment information with a private key. The method additionally includes transmitting the signed payment information and a public key certificate signed by a certificate authority to the PoS terminal. The method includes validating, at the PoS terminal, the public key certificate using a public key certificate of the certificate authority, and validating, at the PoS terminal, the payment information using the certificate authority-signed public key certificate. The method also includes configuring, at the PoS terminal, a terminal profile of the PoS terminal according to instructions received in the payment information when the payment information is validated at the PoS terminal.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other objects and advantages of the present embodiments will become apparent from a study of the following specification when viewed in the light of the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a flow of transaction messages according to at least one embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of a flow of transaction messages according to at least one embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of a transaction flow with an acquiring bank according to at least one embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a merchant, an acquiring bank, and a certificate authority according to at least one embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of a transaction flow with a merchant according to at least one embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a merchant and an acquiring bank according to at least one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.

The present embodiments describes a PoS terminal with a data communication feature and a method for a secure, remotely and temporarily modified merchant profile of the PoS terminal, allowing such temporary merchant profile to be used for the duration of a specific transaction. While the temporary merchant profile is activated and in use, the PoS terminal acts as a remote PoS terminal of the merchant and it can only be used for a specified card payment, where the paid amount will be credited into the merchant's account as described in the temporary profile. Once the specific transaction has been completed, the temporary profile will be deleted and the default PoS terminal profile will be activated.

The buyer does not need to enter his/her payment card information anywhere. The card information could be used for fraudulent transactions in many ways.

The invention is related to a Point of Sale terminal, and specifically to U.S. Patent App. No. U.S. 61/726,121, incorporated herein in its entirety, describing a Point of Sale terminal, which is implemented as software residing in a UICC/SIM card. It can use EMV or Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) type of security certificate based solution.

The present embodiments allow secure online payments using chip cards or a mobile wallet, a PoS terminal (which may reside in a secure chip card memory or in a mobile device) having a smart card reader or a proximity communication feature such as Near Field Communication (NFC) card reader interface and a network communication capability.

The solution is using secured certificates based on Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). The security key management chain integrity is a key element in creating and maintaining the high security level.

Security Management

There are several scenarios to manage the security. The first one is with a Merchant, Acquiring bank, Certificate Authority (‘CA’, for example a Card Scheme) and the Buyer. The second scenario contains a Merchant, Certificate Authority (CA) and the Buyer.

The PoS terminal must be able to verify that the temporary profile it receives is valid and that it has not been altered. This can be achieved by using a PKI security solution inheriting the trust from a common CA. For this purpose, the CA's Public Key Certificate is distributed to the PoS Terminal typically at the time of manufacturing, but it could be done at a later stage.

In both scenarios prior to the first step, the Buyer has already completed the online shopping, the complete Payment Info is therefore known, and user has selected the option to pay with a mobile device with a secured PoS terminal functionality and entered his/her mobile device number.

Turning now to FIGS. 3 and 4, an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in a transaction flow diagram and a schematic diagram. The transaction flow diagram of FIG. 3 illustrates a transaction flow with an acquiring bank in which payment information is transmitted to the mobile PoS terminal. The transaction flow diagram of FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating security certificate issuance and configuring of the temporary PoS terminal profile with an acquiring bank. The system includes a merchant, a certificate (or certification) authority, and an acquirer bank. In the embodiment including the acquirer bank, the following operations may occur:

1. Merchant signs the Payment Information (PI) with its Private Key. 2. Merchant sends the signed PI to an Acquiring Bank (AB). 3. AB validates the PI with Merchants Public Key certificate. 4. If the PI is valid, AB signs the PI with its own Private Key. 5. AB sends the signed PI and AB's Public Key certificate signed by a CA to a PoS terminal. 6. PoS terminal validates the AB's Public Key certificate using CA's Public Key certificate. 7. If the AB's certificate is valid, the PoS will use it to validate the PI. 8. If the PI is valid, the PoS will configure its terminal profile according to the instructions received in the PI for duration of one transaction. 9. The PoS presents the payment instructions to the user. 10. The user can accept the payment or reject it. 11. If accepted, the payment will be processed according to the relevant method. 12. When the payment processing has been completed, the PoS terminal will automatically reconfigure itself with the default terminal profile.

Turning to FIGS. 5 and 6, an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in a transaction flow diagram and a schematic diagram. The transaction flow diagram of FIG. 5 illustrates a transaction flow with a merchant transmitting the payment information to a mobile PoS terminal. The transaction flow diagram of FIG. 6 illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating security clearance issuance and configurating of a temporary PoS terminal profile without using an acquiring bank. The system includes a merchant device and a certificate authority, without an acquiring bank. In the embodiment without the acquirer bank, the following operations may occur:

1. Merchant signs the Payment Information (PI) with its Private Key. 2. Merchant sends the signed PI and Merchant's Public Key certificate signed by a CA to a PoS terminal. 3. PoS terminal validates the Merchant's Public Key certificate using CA's Public Key certificate. 4. If the Merchant's certificate is valid, the PoS will use it to validate the PI. 5. If the PI is valid, the PoS will configure its terminal profile according to the instructions received in the PI for duration of one transaction. 6. The PoS presents the payment instructions to the user. 7. The user can accept the payment or reject it. 8. If accepted, the payment will be processed according to the relevant method. 9. When the payment processing has been completed, the PoS terminal will automatically reconfigure itself with the default terminal profile.

There could be also other scenarios with the same level of security provided by an unbroken chain of security certificates.

The selection of these scenarios is invisible to the user. The main difference is in handling the data traffic to the mobile devices, in other words, whether the Merchants need to be able to manage the data communication between their system and various mobile devices, or will this complexity concentrated at and performed by the Acquiring Banks.

Transaction Message Flow

FIG. 1 illustrates transaction messages with an online consumer using a separate terminal for shopping and a mobile device for payment. FIG. 2 illustrates transaction messages with an online consumer using a mobile device for shopping and for payment.

When ready to pay the products or services (1), the user can enter his/her mobile device number at the online merchant site (2) as the payment card number. The merchant server will generate a Payment Invoice with all necessary information about the transaction, including but not limited to the merchant's PoS terminal profile, such as primary account number and other information, risk management information, payment processing information, information about accepted card type(s), a list of country codes where the mobile PoS terminal is allowed to perform the transaction, a list of country codes where the mobile PoS terminal is not allowed to perform the transaction, date and time of the purchase, name of the merchant and the amount as well as the user's mobile device number. The Payment Invoice will be signed by the Merchant's own private key, which is signed by a trusted third party, like a bank, a payment card scheme, a Certificate Authority or similar, and sent to an Acquiring Bank (3) which will check the authentication and integrity of the Payment Invoice. If the Payment Invoice is valid, the CA will sign it with its own Private Key and send it to the secure PoS terminal application (4) at the user's mobile device or in the UICC/SIM card in the mobile device.

The data transmission function can be performed by a trusted service manager or other trusted third party. The transmission can use any available communication protocol, such as SMS, USSD, TCP/IP or CSD, which is supported by the used network and the mobile device and the UICC card which may reside in it.

A trusted third part like CA or a bank may hold a database linking the account number to a mobile device number.

The PoS terminal will receive the signed Payment Invoice and will check the integrity and authentication of the Payment Invoice using a Public Key of a CA, trusted third party or a payment card scheme, which resides in its secure memory.

The PoS terminal will determine its geographical location using for example available network information about in which country it resides and compare the location information with the list of allowed and banned country codes. If the current geographical location of the PoS terminal is not within the allowed locations or if it is in a banned location, the PoS terminal will cancel the transaction and the user and the bank may be informed.

If the Payment Invoice is valid, the PoS terminal will use the information in the Payment Invoice to configure itself to act as if it were a PoS terminal belonging to the Merchant.

The Payment Invoice includes the amount to be paid as a fixed amount which can't be entered or otherwise modified by the user.

The user will be notified about the online pending transaction and asked for a permission to continue with the transaction. The user can either cancel or accept the transaction ‘as is’, but the user cannot change the amount or any other settings or information related to the transaction.

The PoS terminal will display the amount, the name or other identification of the merchant and potentially other transaction related information and ask for the user's acceptance. If the transaction is accepted by the user, the PoS terminal will ask for a payment card to be presented in the card reader. In case of multiple cards or card readers, the PoS terminal will ask the user to select the card and card reader interface to be used.

The card reader can be integrated in the PoS terminal/mobile device or it can be an external card reader connected to it. The card reader can be contact or contactless type.

Once the payment card is communicating with the card reader embedded in or connected to the mobile device (5) in order to complete the transaction, the user may be asked to provide information he/she knows like a secret PIN code (or another authentication like a signature, picture, voice sample or a photo, etc). The PIN code or other authentication information can be entered for example using the mobile device's user interface display, a keypad, a camera, a voice recognition feature, a character detection feature or a motion detection feature.

The transaction between the payment card and the PoS terminal can be for example an EMV standard transaction, a contactless payment transaction, a smart card transaction, an embedded payment card transaction, a credit or a debit card transaction, a transaction using an account for example at a network operator, a prepaid or a stored value or a purse card transaction.

The payment card can be a physically separate payment card or it can reside in the same UICC card or in the same mobile device as the PoS terminal. The payment card can reside in a Mobile Wallet which is in the mobile device or in the UICC/SIM card. The payment card can reside in the same Integrated Circuit (IC) as the PoS terminal or it can be in a separate IC. One or both of the ICs can be embedded in a UICC/SIM card or a mobile device. The IC containing the payment card can be embedded in the mobile device and the IC containing the PoS terminal can be embedded in the UICC card, and vice versa.

UICC card can be a SIM card and/or a Secure Element.

If a Mobile Wallet is used and it contains more than one payment card, the user can select which payment card he/she wants to use.

The payment transaction will be sent back to the Acquiring bank (6), which will check the validity of the transaction with the Issuing bank (7-8) and confirm the transaction status to PoS terminals and to the Online Merchant (9). The Online Merchant can confirm the transaction status to the Consumer (10). If the transaction was completed successfully, the funds will be transferred to the Merchant's bank account.

If the transaction was not approved, the user may cancel the transaction or retry with the same or different payment card or card reader.

Once the Payment Invoice has been processed and the transaction has been completed, the Merchant specific configuration and information will be deleted permanently and the default configuration of the user's PoS will be reconfigured.

The present embodiments enable secure online purchases using a NFC compatible mobile device and a UICC card as a PoS terminal for both the merchant and the buyer.

The PoS terminal can be any network connected PoS terminal.

The Online Merchant server (the Seller's PoS terminal) can be also a software application or hardware implementation in a mobile device or a SIM card. In this case, the Seller's PoS terminal application in the mobile device or in the SIM card could send its own terminal profile to the buyer's PoS terminal application to conduct a secure financial transaction to be routed from the Buyer's account to the Seller's account.

Address Database

The PoS terminal application can hold a database of one or more street or other physical addresses. The addresses can be used for example as an invoicing and/or delivery address for a remote purchase of goods. The address can be combined with the information send to the acquiring bank and/or to the merchant. The address information can be signed by the PoS terminal using its Private Key for authentication and encrypted by using the merchant's or acquiring bank's Public Key for security purposes.

The address database can have fixed addresses the user can't change and additional addresses the user can modify.

The addresses can be marked with various purposes, like ‘delivery address’, ‘invoicing address’, ‘home address’, ‘work address’, ‘PoS terminal holders address’ to name a few. If an address is included in the data sent to the acquiring bank and/or to the merchant and it has been marked as ‘delivery address’, the merchant shall use that address as the delivery address for the goods. If the address is marked as ‘invoicing address’ the merchant shall send the invoice related to the purchase to that address.

Aspects of the present embodiment(s) can also be embodied as software configured to be used with a processor to cause the processor to perform operations, or can be embodied as hardware on one or more connected or unconnected devices.

While in accordance with the provisions of the Patent Statutes the preferred forms and embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made without deviating from the inventive concepts set forth above. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of remotely configuring a Point-of-Sale (PoS) terminal, the method comprising: generating, at a merchant device, payment information based on a transaction input; signing the generated payment information with a private key; and transmitting the signed payment information and a first public key certificate signed by a certificate authority to the PoS terminal for validation of the payment information at the PoS terminal using the first public key certificate, wherein the PoS terminal configures a terminal profile of the PoS terminal according to instructions received in the payment information from the merchant device when the payment information is validated at the PoS terminal.
 2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising encrypting the signed payment information and the first public key certificate before transmitting the signed payment information and the first public key certificate using a second public key certificate of one of the PoS terminal and an acquiring bank.
 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first public key certificate is a public key certificate associated with the merchant device, and the merchant device transmits the signed payment information and the merchant public key certificate to the PoS terminal.
 4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the PoS terminal validates the merchant public key certificate using a public key certificate of the certificate authority.
 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the PoS terminal uses the merchant public key certificate to validate the payment information when the merchant public key certificate is validated.
 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the private key is a private key of the merchant device, the signing the generated payment information with the private key comprises signing, by the merchant device, the generated payment information with the private key of the merchant device, and the transmitting the signed payment information comprises transmitting the signed payment information directly from the merchant device to the PoS terminal.
 7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising transmitting, by the merchant device, the signed payment information to an acquiring bank prior to the signed payment information being transmitted to the PoS terminal.
 8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the first public key certificate is a public key certificate of the acquiring bank.
 9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising validating, at the acquiring bank, the signed payment information with a public key certificate associated with the merchant device.
 10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the private key is a private key of the acquiring bank, and the signing the generated payment information with the private key comprises signing, by the acquiring bank, the payment information with the private key of the acquiring bank when the payment information is validated by the acquiring bank.
 11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the transmitting the signed payment information and the public key certificate comprises transmitting, by the acquiring bank, the signed payment information and the acquiring bank public key certificate directly to the PoS terminal.
 12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the PoS terminal validates the acquiring bank public key certificate using a public key certificate of the certificate authority.
 13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the PoS terminal uses the acquiring bank public key certificate to validate the payment information when the acquiring bank public key certificate is validated.
 14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the PoS terminal configures the terminal profile for one transaction based on the instructions received in the payment information.
 15. A method of remotely configuring a Point-of-Sale (PoS) terminal, the method comprising: receiving, at the PoS terminal, signed payment information signed with a private key and a public key certificate signed by a certificate authority; validating, at the PoS terminal, the payment information using the public key certificate; and configuring, at the PoS terminal, a terminal profile of the PoS terminal according to instructions received in the payment information from a merchant device when the payment information is validated at the PoS terminal.
 16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the private key is a private key of the merchant device, the generated payment information being signed with the private key of the merchant device and being transmitted directly from the merchant device to the PoS terminal, the public key certificate is a public key certificate associated with the merchant device, and the validating the payment information comprises validating the merchant public key certificate using a public key certificate of the certificate authority, the merchant public key certificate being received from the merchant device, and validating the payment information using the merchant public key certificate when the merchant public key certificate is validated.
 17. The method according to claim 15, wherein the signed payment information is validated with a public key certificate associated with the merchant device at an acquiring bank, the private key is a private key of the acquiring bank, the payment information received at the PoS terminal being signed with the private key of the acquiring bank when the payment information is validated by the acquiring bank, and the public key certificate received at the PoS terminal is a public key certificate of the acquiring bank received from the acquiring bank directly at the PoS terminal.
 18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the validating the payment information comprises validating the acquiring bank public key certificate using the public key certificate of the certificate authority, and validating the payment information using the acquiring bank public key certificate when the acquiring bank public key certificate is validated.
 19. The method according to claim 15, wherein the configuring the terminal profile comprises configuring the terminal profile for one transaction based on the instructions received in the payment information.
 20. The method according to claim 15, further comprising automatically reconfiguring, by the PoS terminal, the terminal profile with a default terminal profile after payment processing is completed in accordance with payment instructions presented at the PoS terminal.
 21. A method of remotely configuring a Point-of-Sale (PoS) terminal, the method comprising: receiving, at the merchant device, a transaction input; generating, at the merchant device, payment information based on the transaction input; signing the generated payment information with a private key; transmitting the signed payment information and a public key certificate signed by a certificate authority to the PoS terminal; validating, at the PoS terminal, the public key certificate using a public key certificate of the certificate authority; validating, at the PoS terminal, the payment information using the certificate authority-signed public key certificate; and configuring, at the PoS terminal, a terminal profile of the PoS terminal according to instructions received in the payment information when the payment information is validated at the PoS terminal.
 22. The method according to claim 21, wherein the signed payment information and the certificate authority-signed public key certificate are transmitted from the merchant device, the certificate authority-signed public key certificate being a public key certificate of the merchant device.
 23. The method according to claim 21, wherein the signed payment information and the certificate authority-signed public key certificate are transmitted from the acquiring bank, the certificate authority-signed public key certificate being a public key certificate of the acquiring bank. 